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According to the National Audit Office, which is a government watchdog organization, announced this month that there had been an increase of 8 percent in the cases of staphylococcus aureus (staph). This are infections found in the bloodstream, which increased from 17,933 in 2001 to 19,311 in 2004; about 40 percent of such cases are found resistant to the antibiotic methicillin as per the available data.
M.R.S.A. is a type of bacteria, which is found plentiful in everyday life. Most of the people carry it on their skin, and characteristically and apparent it does not seem to cause any noticeable harm at the outset, just because it moves slowly. In fact, it enters the body and causes infections, either through wounds or punctures from intravenous trickle; the infections can include sepsis and toxic distress.
According to Hospital sources, 10 percent patients contract a staph infection while staying in England hospitals. These hospitals are the oldest and crowded in the Western Europe and the dirtiest and so they easily spread these infections of super bugs, which multiply in the dirty surroundings and also spread through unhygienic hands. As a result there are about 5000 deaths occur in a year.
So far this disease in other parts of the world is concerned for instance United States, the infections are also on the increase. According to their health department it has broken all records of such infections; an estimated 300,000 patients are admitted to hospital for this disease every year.
MIL feels that the express prevention is that the nurses and doctors should keep their hands clean and washed before touching them. It is essential to improve the conditions of the old hospitals if this disease is to be tackled. It is, infact, a matter of shame for the health departments for UK as well as USA where such infections are on the increase and the people’ cry is ignored.
However, Prime Minister Tony Blair, while not as dire in his choice of words, conceded that it was a "serious problem."
According to the news item by Lizette Alvarez who wrote in New York Times on 14th August, he elaborates:
“Edward Leigh, a conservative member of Parliament and the chairman of the Committee on Public Accounts, said there had been an "appalling lack of progress" in tackling the infections. "The picture is bleak," he said. "It is a matter of shame that our M.R.S.A. infection rate is among the worst in Europe."
Responding to the increase in infections, John Reid, the Health Secretary, announced plans this month to try to curb the infection rates, including flying in experts, installing hot lines by patients' bedsides so they can alert the cleaning staff if something is dirty, improving supervision of the cleaning staff and ensuring that hospitals publish and display their infection rates.”
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